Description of the flag

The flag was adopted in October 1980 when the islands became internally self-governing
and proclaimed Republic on 01 January 1981. The disk represents the moon as
a symbol of national unity and destiny. The blue field is supposed to represent
the independence.Nathan Augustine and Željko Heimer, 13 December 1995

shift of the disc towards hoist is defined by an imaginary vertical line tangent to the left of the disc and placed at 1/4 of the flag length

field colour is a blue not easy to define, my two sources differ in brightness.

Moreover, according to Ultimate Pocket Flags of the World, Palau has no coat of arms but only a seal. "The seal is not coloured. It depicts a traditional Paluan triangular hut, above the date of adoption. This is surrounded by the title of the state."

And the full name of the state is "Republic of Palau" (English) or "Belu'u
era Belau" (Palauan). Independence (with free association with the USA) occurred
on 1st October 1994, and the state was admitted by the UNO on 15 December 1994.
The defence of the state is assured by the USA, so there are no specific naval
ensigns and rank flags to expect. (Source: Encyclopaedia Universalis - Les chiffres
du monde 1998).Ivan Sache, 11 August 1999

The Government of Palau page at
http://www.bdarop.com/flag.htm gives the national flag construction details
as 5:8 = (1+3+1):(2+3+3); golden yellow, sky blue. The National Flag of the
Republic of Palau shall be a golden-yellow moon slightly off-centered on a field
of sky-blue. The moon plays a significant role in harvests, reproductive cycles,
and launching of events in traditional Palau. The ocean is a constant which has
provided sustenance to Palau through its bounties. The full moon signifies
Palau's emergence as an independent sovereign country. The blue ocean signifies
the constancy of Palau through the years, surviving through various foreign
dominations to finally emerge at the full moon.

The Palau National Flag was the winning entrant by Mr. Blau Skebong in the
1979 ROP Flag Contest and was adopted by the Olbiil Era Kelulau through Public
Law No. 7-6-2 on September 1980.António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 March 2003

This flag was established by 'An Act' of the Seventh Palau Legislature (sixth
regular session) "To provide for the Flag of the Republic of Palau", Public Law
No. 7-6-2 (Bill 7-230,D7) passed on 18 September 1980, and effective upon being
approved (by Juan A. Sablan, Deputy High Commissioner) on 22 October 1980.

Section One, 'Flag of the Republic of Palau', provides exact instructions for
creating the flag, and confirms that the construction details we show are
correct in every particular. However it does add that "The Flag may be
reproduced for unofficial purposes with different dimensions...". The colours
are officially described as "golden yellow" and "sky blue".

Section Six, 'Transition', lists only the flag of Palau just described, that of
the United States and of the United Nations, which appears to confirm that only
there was no specific 'flag of Palau' before the Act?Christopher Southworth, 7 March 2004

The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags
and Anthems Manual London 2012) provides recommendations for national flag
designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for
their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm
version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the
official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC
believed the flag to be. For Palau: PMS process blue, 109 yellow. The
vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.Ian Sumner, 11 October 2012

Construction sheet

by Željko Heimer, 12 September 2002

Section One, 'Flag of the Republic of Palau', provides exact instructions for
creating the flag. "The width of the Flag of the Republic of Palau shall bear
the ratio of 1.0 to 1.6 and the diameter of the moon shall the ratio to the
width of the flag of 0.6 to 1.0. The distance from the side of the flag nearest
the mast or staff to the center of the moon shall bear the ratio to the width of
the flag of 0.7 to 1.0. The distance from the top and bottom of the flag to the
center of the moon shall be equal."Christopher Southworth, 7 March 2004

According to Mr Takuji Okumura, former president of Hattori Co one of the largest
flag manufacturers in Japan, he had made a Palau presidential flag in 1999 at
President Nakamura's request when he met the president. The flag is a banner
(60cm x 120cm) to be hung down from a top of a pole in the president room. The
flag is not designed to be used outside. The flag is light blue background same
as the national flag but having gold national emblem towards top of pole instead
of gold disc and gold fringe at the bottom edge.Nozomi Kariyasu, 4 August 2000

Some European flag book shows this image as the
national emblem but this is the emblem of the Palau Congress. When I visited
Koror I found it. The Palau national emblem is a Bei = meeting place showing
pictures of past war history and legend.Nozomi Kariyasu, 19 December 2009

Before independence

I don't think that Palau had a flag before independence. It was part of the
Trust Territory of the Pacific, administered by the US. The flag for the Trust
Territory was blue with six stars arranged in a hexagon. When independence came
Palau and the Marshal Islands decided to separate from the rest of the group,
which became the Federated States of Micronesia with the same blue flag with
four stars instead of six, for Kosrae, Pohnpei, Truk and Yap.Nathan Augustine, 15 December 1995

Japan set up the South Pacific Agency in Koror,
presently the capital of the Republic of Palau, to administrate the formerly
German Islands. I think the Agency was different from a mainland prefecture but
no special military flag nor regional flag was made except for one service flag:
South Pacific Agency. This fishery investigation vessel flag was adopted on Sep
18 1930 by Notification No 13. The flag is a white background bearing its emblem
in red. The emblem was a stylized Chinese character, meaning water. Nozomi Kariyasu, 10 March 2004

The stylized Chinese character meaning water in Kanji is: 水 ; in Hiragana:
みず; romaji: "mizu".António Martins-Tuválkin, 30 July 2007

Palau issued a mini-sheet of stamps depicting the 16
state flags and the national flags. The stamps were listed in the July issue of
the US magazine Scott's Stamp Monthly.Roger Moyer, 23 July 2003

The (quite large) island of Babeldaob is divided in ten states (Aimelik,
Airai, Meleleok, Ngaraard, Ngarchelong, Ngardmau, Ngatpang, Ngchesar, Ngeremlengui
and Ngiwal), each supposedly with a flag. In average 350 people per state, and
per flag. Supposing that Palau is not at all a rich country (even if not that
poor), I wonder how much use these flags have...António Martins-Tuválkin, 3 January 2000